You missed the banking sector getting its head around basic questions. It's currently more about learning (basic orientation); sharing ideas (wonderments) and insights (few). So, some way to go before there's any 'leadership' but given the key interests from traditional banking, it has potential to become influential if not useful.

There was no mention of BitShares or really any depth of awareness beyond the obvious - Ethereum and 'smart contracts' were mentioned in an obvious way. I had a sense that some in the room understood at depth but most including the BoE are at the stage of doing their homework before making any decisions. The big take away, I suppose is no surprise that they are taking blockchain technology seriously.

There seem to be a few efforts to create accelerators (Barclays is a key player) and so perhaps from the crowd will emerge real expertise. BoE rep talked of their current research and how legislation might not necessarily be the same as old banking.. but made clear indication that they consider that confidence comes from stability and therefore by their logic, necessarily that requires regulation. So, they are not fully understanding the potential but it's a step in the right direction. There's expected to be more of the same each month on different related topics tbc.

What was not discussed was any talk of supporting current development and I'm not sure what to make of that. Perhaps those present are above such trivia but I suspect many will have money to burn researching this over the next years. Investment is the best route to understanding?.. I didn't get a chance to suggest that they would do us all a favour splurging on moonstone.io or directly supporting key devs of substantial projects like BitShares.

It's clear that they all believe that regulation is necessary but the form that might take relative to each class of activity, is not clear. There's talk public already of the BoE and others looking at hosting their own blockchains but I can't see the advantage of that and the risks of proving such a network are great.

Opportunity potentially there if BitShares core devs want to reach out to traditional banking, contact smlf and pitch for a presentation within future meetings.. @bytemaster ? Some in the room have insightful questions and not to be underestimated and all appear clever enough to appreciate real depth of answer to their concerns about 'what can it do for me'.

let's get everything stable and smooth before selling the product ... waiting for BitShares 1.0

Duke Nukem Forever?.. yeah that got released.. eventually. Difference was that people were aware of that, so that approach became an advantage.

It's not the product they need at this point, it's the idea.. they are talking about Ethereum already; I expect they will commit their awareness and then resources to projects they are aware of.

Don't overestimate where they are at. Potentially the seeding of the idea, that will make delivering 1.0 that much easier? Obviously, devs can wait if that's considered the better option but marketing sometimes works better on the back of brand awareness; also if BitShares needs any real investment to bridge devs' salaries or pay for moonstone, then there might be an option there to leverage support and funding.. and perhaps prevent any competitor arising and passing BitShares by.

let's get everything stable and smooth before selling the product ... waiting for BitShares 1.0

Whilst the end is near, I think being involved in fintech in the UK can be of a great advantage. (Not in anyway biassed as I am in the UK ). All the signals for acceptance of blockchain technologies are coming from the BoE and Uk government, now that the conservatives have won the election, the initiative they started won't be stopped. The UK wants to continue being the financial centre, so it cannot miss this opportunity.

Also I would not worry much about 1.0, after playing with Ethereum today, Bitshares has a great platform to demonstrate. I believe once June is here and we have all the plan / announcements, etc that will the selling point. I assume it will be the same time 1.0 will be here anyway.